Sooners out to claim NSSBL title Friday at home

SaltWire Network

Published: Oct 06, 2017 at midnight

Updated: Oct 12, 2017 at 2:37 p.m.

Sydney Sooners right-fielder Jonny MacLeod of Sydney Mines is seen at team practice at the Susan McEachern Memorial Ball Field in Sydney on Thursday. His team leads the Dartmouth Moosehead Dry 3-2 in their best-of-seven series for the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League championship. Sydney has two chances to win the title at home with Game 6 set for Friday at 7 p.m., and Game 7, if necessary, Saturday at 2 p.m.

SYDNEY — Since the season began, Sydney Sooners coach Jim (Rico) McEachern stressed the importance of winning a regular-season pennant — not so much for the bragging rights, but to secure home field advantage in the playoffs.

And with his team leading a tough Dartmouth Moosehead Dry squad 3-2 in the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League championship series, he’s not about to squander it as his team prepares to host Dartmouth on Friday for Game 6 at the Susan McEachern Memorial Ball Field in Sydney. The first pitch is set for 7 p.m.

McEachern said his team is 25-5 at home since their home field received major upgrades before last season. While his players are more comfortable fielding balls on the artificial turf, the crowd support is also a huge advantage, he said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that our fans are the 10th player on the field,” said McEachern, who was voted the NSSBL coach of the year this season after guiding the Sooners to a third-straight league title with a 19-8 record. “And I know that support will be there when we play Friday.”

The urgency to close the series out and avoid a Game 7 isn’t lost on second-year player Jonny MacLeod.

“That’s what we played for all season, was to get that home-field advantage for this moment, for games six and seven,” said the right-fielder from Sydney Mines. “We’ve battled all year to get to this point, and this is a big game, so it’s win or go home. It’s time to prove it.”

This will be the third league championship in the past five years for whichever team wins. Sydney won the championship in 2013 and 2014, but despite capturing the regular season pennant fell short the last two seasons when Dartmouth claimed the title.

“We both got two in the last five years and this is kind of the rubber match,” MacLeod said. “It will mean a lot to both teams but we’re definitely going for it here.”

McEachern said ace Sheldon MacDonald, who sported a 5-0 regular-season record, finished second in wins in the league, and had a 1.93 ERA, will get the start on the mound for the Sooners. While Game 7, if necessary, is set to be played Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Susan McEachern Memorial Ball Field, he said his team will pull out all the stops to close out the series tonight.

“The old adage that anything can happen in Game 7 is true and we don’t want to risk that. We could come out and have our worst game of the year,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to win (Friday).”